1. Field
The following description relates to image processing. The following description also relates to rendering that provides global illumination effects or indirect illumination effects.
2. Description of Related Art
In various fields, for example, three-dimensional (3D) games, virtual reality animation, and movies, an interest in real-time rendering for a 3D graphical model is increasing. When a 3D scene is rendered using global illumination technology, virtual point lights (VPLs) that represent indirect illumination effects, for example, diffraction and reflection of light in an image space, may be sampled to improve image realism. In some cases, a number of such VPLs may be sampled and thus, a computational complexity for visibility check and shading in a rendering process may increase.